Ohio CPS News Archive

Ohio News Coverage

ELYRIA - The head of the union for Lorain County Children Services caseworkers says a 2010 change in how the agency handles its cases is burning out the workers tasked with keeping children safe.

In January 2010, Lorain County Children Services switched to a single worker model, combining its intake and protective services unit. The structure allows one caseworker to work continuously with a family instead of splitting up the work between an intake worker, who receives the initial report, and a protective worker, who follows through after the report is substantiated.

LORAIN, Ohio - A case worker has resigned and the worker's supervisor has been placed on administrative leave after seven children were found living in deplorable conditions on Long Avenue.

According to a statement provided by the Lorain County Children Services, a review of the case work involving Erica Perez and her seven kids led to the resignation and suspension. Last week authorities in Lorain shared images they snapped of the conditions inside of her home on Long Avenue. The conditions led to her seven children being taken from her.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A delegation from Russia is in Ohio this week studying the state's child welfare and foster care programs.

The Moscow-based National Foundation for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children stopped in Ohio Wednesday on its way to an international forum in Chicago slated for next week. Ohio has been hailed by other states and nations for some of its efforts at training child welfare professionals and finding homes for hard to place foster children.

A lawyer for a former Hamilton County foster mom accused of raping children in her care today asked the court to mentally evaluate the woman.

Barbara Brooks, 62, of Colerain Township, pleaded not guilty when she appeared this morning before Common Pleas Court Judge Steve Martin, court records show. Martin set her bond at $500,000. Brooks remains locked up at the county jail.

Publicly funded virtual charter schools are really just "schools at home" and parents are simply "monitors or learning coaches." In these schools the government is in the driver's seat-parents are just along for the ride.

In fact, the homeschooling association "strongly cautions" all homeschoolers from enrolling in online charter schools. But the message is especially relevant in Ohio, which has more students enrolled in full-time online schools than all other states except Arizona.

In the wake of child sex abuse charges against Jerry Sandusky, state lawmakers created a panel to look for ways to improve child protection laws and procedures.

The group's ninth meeting comes alongside the daily trickle of news from the Sandusky trial - prompting soul-searching questions from panel members. "Everybody's talking about what's going on at Penn State, at State College, and the trial. Everybody cares and wants to do something and wants to be involved," said Department of Public Welfare deputy secretary Bev Mackereth. She said she worries attempted child protection fixes won't be long-lasting if they aren't rooted in any one government office, or in individual communities.

AKRON, Ohio -- A 65-year-old Akron man was sentenced to life in prison for sexually molesting five boys living in his home in foster care.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Tammy O'Brien sentenced Roger Ball, of Holly Avenue in Akron, to the life sentence, the maximum sentence allowed. He will be eligible for parole after serving 35 years.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A 9-year-old boy removed from his mother's custody after his weight ballooned to more than 200 pounds returned home slimmer with a free gym membership, exercise equipment and even a new scale.

His story has compelled donations from community organizations concerned about his well-being. But it will be up to the boy and his family to make sure he doesn't regain the weight and end up in court again after a juvenile judge in Cleveland released him from protective supervision on Thursday.

An adoptive father who's been accused of raping three boys in his care was indicted along with another man Friday on rape charges.

The 39-year-old adoptive father from Troy was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury on three counts of rape of a child under 13 and four counts of complicity to commit rape of a child under 13. Patrick Rieder, 31, of Dayton, was indicted on four counts of rape of a child under 13.

Shoppers looking for natural and organic food have a new option today, with the opening of Earth Fare's first Columbus-area store at Gemini Place Towne Center.

Earth Fare, founded in 1975 in Asheville, N.C., is a growing chain whose "food philosophy" prohibits products containing high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, as well as artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors or fragrances. The chain also refuses to sell any meat or dairy containing antibiotics or growth hormones.

If coverage by the Dayton Daily News and other media organizations is any indication, Ohio homeschoolers may face attempts to enact more intrusive home education laws.

In an article prompted by the death of 14-year-old Makayla Norman, who suffered from severe cerebral palsy, the Dayton paper drew a connection between the tragedy and purportedly lax homeschooling laws. The paper supported its accusation with a questionable interpretation of comments by Attorney General Mike DeWine, making it appear he is calling for more legislative oversight of homeschoolers in the Buckeye State.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Abuse represents an action against a child.

In addition to those you mentioned, some other mandated reporters are child care workers, most medical professionals, social workers and attorneys. For a mandated reporter, failure to report can result in a fourth-degree misdemeanor charge, and they could be liable for civil damages.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine said a comprehensive review of Ohio's foster care system is needed.

Dewine hosted a "Child Safety Summit" Friday at Belmont College in St. Clairsville and invited local officials in the foster child system to participate. His concern is that many youths spend years as foster children without finding a family - and that others are hurt by being reunited with the families from which they have been removed and returned to abusive situations. Dewine - a father of eight and grandfather of 17 - said 80 percent of child deaths each year are the result of abuse and neglect.

WARREN, Ohio - The justice system is still sorting through rape charges against a Trumbull County mother and father accused of molesting their baby daughter.

The alleged assault happened inside Trumbull County Children Services while the couple were visiting the child last year. 21 News has obtained a document that shows the agency had reason to believe Cody Beemer was a threat to his daughter before he allegedly raped her. It's a discovery that has the agency re-assessing its procedures.

(Cleveland) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is going around the state holding child safety summits to look at child care services and the foster care system in Ohio.

DeWine spoke to legislators, child advocates, and foster parents Monday at Cuyahoga County Community College's United Technologies Center on Woodland Avenue. He says there are two big issues: many children stay in foster care a long time and are never adopted, and there have been many deaths across the state with children in foster care who are given back to abusive families.

The defense grills Dominick Calhoun's mother in day four of the murder trial of Brandon Hayes. He's accused of beating and killing four year old Dominick Calhoun in April of 2010.

The defense spent quite a while questioning Corrine Baker, Dominick's mother, taking an accusatory tone asking Corrine if she beat up her son and why she did not go to police. It wanted to paint her as a liar, manipulator, drug addict, and one that blames others for her actions.

Granville Board of Education officials will take final action in January on a policy change to allow homeschooled students, or those in non-chartered schools, to participate in Granville co- and extra-curricular activities.

Board members heard the first of two readings of the new policy Dec. 19. Final action would be taken at the board's regular meeting on Jan. 9. Superintendent Jeff Brown described the district's current policy as "silent on homeschooling and homeschool entrance into extra- and co-curricular activities."

COLUMBUS - In Attorney General Mike DeWine's office, there's a 1997 photo of DeWine holding his daughter Anna, who was 5 at the time, at a White House bill-signing ceremony with President Bill Clinton.

The bill, sponsored by DeWine, then a U.S. senator, made clear that the best interests of a child must be No. 1 when deciding whether to leave a child in foster care or reunite a family. It's the kind of photo that fuels the fires of the Cedarville Republican's critics.

CINCINNATI -- Hamilton County's prosecutor says the county's children's services did not do anything criminally wrong in the case of Demarcus Jackson.

Demarcus, 2, died weeks after he was returned to his mother, who had lost custody of him when he was less than two weeks old. Latricia Jackson, 22, is charged with child endangering. The boy's father, Antrone Smith, 29, is charged with aggravated murder in the boy's death and faces the death penalty if convicted.

An Ohio third-grader weighing more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care when county social workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.

The Plain Dealer reports that the 8-year-old is considered severely obese and at risk for diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The Ohio Health Department estimates more than 12 percent of third-graders statewide are severely obese. The removal of the Cleveland child is the first state officials can recall of a child being put in foster care for a strictly weight-related issue.

The case of an 8-year-old Cleveland Heights boy taken from his family because he weighs more than 200 pounds has renewed a debate on whether parents should lose custody if a child is severely obese.

The boy was removed from his family and was placed in foster care in October after county case workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight. The boy, at his weight, is considered at risk for developing such diseases as diabetes and high blood pressure. Government growth charts say most boys his age weigh about 60 pounds. Roughly 2 million U.S. children are extremely obese - weighing significantly more than what's considered healthy.

CLEVELAND (AP) - An Ohio third-grader who weighs more than 200 pounds has been taken from his family and placed into foster care after county social workers said his mother wasn't doing enough to control his weight.

The Plain Dealer reports that the 1 Cleveland 8-year-old is considered severely obese and at risk for such diseases as diabetes and hypertension. The case is the first state officials can recall of a child being put in foster care strictly for a weight-related issue

Two teachers have allegedly been caught calling a 14-year-old girl with special needs 'dumb' and 'lazy' - after she recorded them.

When the student's parents, from Washington Court House, Ohio, feared their daughter was being bullied, they hid a tape recorder in her clothing. They were stunned to hear teacher Christy Wilt and her aide Kelly Chaffins allegedly poking fun at the teenager's weight and forcing her to run on a treadmill.

Anderson Township, Ohio - Strolling along in scruffy jeans and sneakers, this is the young boy who police claim raped a girl of five in a McDonald's Playland.

The youth, who could be as young as 13, is said to have touched the girl before making her touch him in an inappropriate way. The police report said the boy had climbed into the play area specifically to molest her.

Cincinnati -- An Ohio judge ignored pleas to keep a 2-year-old boy from his parents, returning the boy, who was then allegedly killed by the father, court records indicate.

Social workers said the father of Damarcus Jackson -- found beaten to death two months after being returned from foster care to his biological parents -- had flunked three drug tests and did time in jail for hitting the boy's mother with a bottle, the records obtained by The Cincinnati Enquirer indicated.